From Print to Producer: Heavy Metal Magazine Finds Buyers and New Future in Hollywood (EXCLUSIVE)

New owners hope to turn Heavy Metal into a mult-platform brand for genre fans

The pages of Heavy Metal magazine have long held a soft spot in the hearts of Hollywood filmmakers, with the cult publication giving a voice to fans of science fiction and fantasy since the 1970s. Like every popular aging brand, however, Heavy Metal is getting a reboot, with new investors set to turn the magazine into a full-fledged entertainment banner to produce films, TV shows and other forms of content dedicated to the genre fare that made it popular nearly four decades ago.

Kevin Eastman, who has served as the sole publisher of Heavy Metal since 1991, has sold the magazine to digital and music vet David Boxenbaum and film producerJeff Krelitz, who raised several million dollars in private equity to purchase the publication. Financial details were not disclosed.

But as part of the recent transaction, Eastman, who co-created the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, will continue to serve as publisher of the magazine, and is a minority investor in the new Heavy Metal. Boxenbaum and Krelitz now serve as co-CEOs of the company.

Heavy Metal’s new owners aren’t wasting any time, setting up the first projects to be released under the new banner.

Krelitz is overseeing Heavy Metal’s film, TV, IP and global publishing initiatives in the U.S., Europe and Asia, and already has brought in his TV shows “Red Brick Road,” a “Game of Thrones”-style take on “The Wizard of Oz,” that’s set up at Warner Horizon with Roy Lee, Adrian Askarieh and Mark Wolper; the Peter Pan-inspired “Peter Panzerfaust,” an adaptation of the Image comic that BBC Worldwide is developing with Elijah Wood; and a version of another Image book, “Chew,” as a direct-to-video animated film and live action series.

Meanwhile, Boxenbaum is managing Heavy Metal’s music, online, branding and digital initiatives from New York City. He previously co-founded and was chief operating officer of A&M/Octone Records and sold the record label to Universal.

The goal is to turn Heavy Metal into a more influential brand for mainstream audiences and genre fans the way Thomas Tull’s Legendary Entertainment has focused on tentpole titles that target the sci-fi, fantasy and horror audience with “Man of Steel,” Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, “300” and the upcoming “Godzilla” and “Warcraft.”

Heavy Metal already has a strong fanbase, especially in Hollywood.

First published as “an adult illustrated fantasy magazine” in 1977, Heavy Metal was seen as one of the few outlets for original science fiction and fantasy, with long-running serials written by writers like Richard Corben and Matt Howarth, while its mix of stylized erotic art took on a life of its own. “Alien”-creature designer H.R. Giger was featured on covers with Archie Goodwin’s adaptation of the film published in Heavy Metal in 1979.

In 1981, a low-budget animated film, based on the magazine’s serials was released, featuring John Candy, Eugene Levy, Harold Ramis and Ivan Reitman.

David Fincher and James Cameron had been attached to produce and direct a 10-part 3D-animated Heavy Metal film as an anthology of stories, with Zack Snyder, Gore Verbinski and Guillermo del Toro also set to direct segments. But Paramount balked at potential appeal of the project at the megaplex and ultimately passed on the pic in 2009, with Robert Rodriguez picking up the film rights to develop through his Quick Draw Studios in 2011.

Eastman wasn’t necessarily looking to sell, but was attracted to the idea of growing the brand beyond its print and digital editions into something larger.

“There are so many fans of Heavy Metal in the industry,” Krelitz said. “It was the place that inspired them to become who they are now and has the potential to be so much more,” with Heavy Metal’s new owners looking to rally creatives around the brand with their projects.

Krelitz and Boxenbaum said they want to continue to give writers, especially those working in the comicbook biz, voices through the publication, that will be revamped as both a print and online quarterly. But stories they tell could also be developed into projects for other entertainment platforms the way Krelitz has done through his Quality Transmedia banner. Krelitz also founded Contraband Films, which set up TV shows and films at Universal and New Line and published graphic novels. His Double Barrel Motion Labs also has helped studios and publishers re-purpose marketing materials for the mobile biz.

“We see the magazine as a way to test new concepts, new ideas before turning them into something else,” Krelitz said. “There are so many opportunities out there now to tell a good story.”

Looking forward to see what will happen. I am a pin-up artist and am thrilled to be a featured artist in the current issue of Heavy Metal Magazine (#266) If David Boxenbaum and Jeff Krelitz, happen to be reading this, I would love to get involved in future projects. I have a transmedia project in very early development called “Quantum Party Girls.” I can be reached through my website http://www.AliciaHollinger.com

I am 59 years old and have every HM magazine since April 1977, as well as a fair collection of Metal Hurlant, which I enjoy reading in French. Although I do miss the art and stories of the early years, as well as the variety in covers, I still like reading HM. All the stories may not be great, but it’s still enjoyable to see new artists, stories and concepts. I also share Rick Tucker’s concerns as to how that ‘branding’ will ultimately affect the quality of HM magazine. I am also dissatisfied, as he is, with the blandness of so many aspects of media these days. On the other hand, I’m hoping that opening up other venues might also bring new possibilities for the magazine itself. I wish you luck.

I just wish they would get back to printing great fantasy and SF graphic narratives from around the world. They won’t, so I don’t really care. America is so ate up with branding that it forgets it takes individual ideas and great stories to have something WORTH branding. No, we are all about multi-media marketing and the digital rage. The problem with that can be seen in Hollywood with it’s zeal to fund HUGE FX films that are so much alike that it’s become boring to go to movies despite the dazzling potential they squelch to find a market through vampirization of everything in the past that was a hit. The original American HM copped great material from their mother magazine Metal Hurlant, the French publication. Through them we discovered artist and visionaries like French artist Moebius (Jean Giraud) and American underground sensation Richard Corben and many others.
So, what will we get now? Probably repackaged stuff we’ve seen ten thousand times, derivative, pop sensationalistic because of well placed buzz but at the same time the kind of stuff that’s as fulfilling as fast food in a chic setting. Music? Really. What, more pop synth, grinding guitars, angry girls in heels and tats, or maybe more *yawn* hip hop/rap or red neck styled country? We’re drowning in marketed sensationalism when what we need is a view from the mountain top, above the hype, above the spin and buzz and vapid celebrity endorsements, something we can really look at, tweak our sense of wonder and breathe in. That’s what the original Heavy Metal/Metal Hurlant offered and it’s been absent for some time now.